To connect emotionally with someone is one of the bravest things we can do.

There’s the thrill of the unknown, but also a sense of danger that comes with the cross-contamination of distinct lives, distinct cultures, distinct experiences. It’s vulnerability and exposure to the elements. It’s that 3 a.m. conversation you have where you lose track of time and sink further and further into each other’s minds, entering that other dimension where you can feel yourself falling yet being held at the same time.

In those moments, someone who once may have seemed like an impossibility can take root in the deepest parts of you.

Let us relinquish that urge to control, let go of the thought that singularity is safety, and let ourselves wander. Know that the fear is part of the adventure, and carry on.

Conquistador

In the beginning I thought “only me.”
Within the limits of my introspection
was a crackling fire and scent of sun,
nesting.

Within me,
a safety.

I was a sleeping bag in a backyard tent,
warm liquor through red blood.

Then I saw it.
There! In the distance,
an Icelandic hill house of green grass.
A longing
and a dream.

Beyond this self lies the cold, coarse cabin of close bodies.

It is you: an unfamiliar adventure.

Sharp sea-wind in the shadow of ribs
and your eyes…
the black of a nighttime tiled hallway with
one flashlight.
Terrifying.

You are a brave new world to my curious conquistador,
but when I breach your shores I find you.

Not coming with gun, germs, or steel,
but gently calling
with a single teardrop
in my black coffee mug,
a silent thumb
on the wrinkle of a sick
yet smiling mouth.

~

~

Author: Shanika Peplinski 

Image: Pixabay

Editor: Callie Rushton